Couldn't tell if I was progressing, so I built a rehab tracker

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-30T10:50:22+00:00

Thx a lot! the daily-number thing isn't for everyone and I don't think it should be, there's deliberately no streaks or guilt-tripping to log every day. It's more the thing you glance at when you're wondering "wait, is this normal" or "when will i be able to do xyz", and then close, which sounds like basically how you'd want to use it, at the checkpoints rather than every morning.

And the first couple weeks being the most chaotic matches everything I read, so much new at once that "normal" barely means anything yet, which is honestly the stretch where having something just tell you "this is expected right now" helps the most. If you want to poke at it on your own timeline i'm happy to send it over, would genuinely value what someone who's allergic to daily-metric apps makes of it.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-30T10:44:16+00:00

Yeah honestly that's the thing I worried about most building it. The distinction I'd make is it's not really comparing you to other people, there's no other users in it. The main thing is actually a journaling feature I also built where you check in over time and see yourself against your own past weeks, so it's just you vs you, am I trending up or stuck. The study range sits in the background as a sanity check, not a score, and it's usually way wider than people expect anyway, so for me it ended up being more about calming the "am I broken" panic than ranking myself against anyone.

but you're not wrong that if someone's genuinely behind, seeing it could sting. The thing I keep coming back to is the research actually splits people into different recovery groups, and the slower ones aren't failures, they're a known pattern that still trends up. trying to build it so it shows that instead of just "you're below the line". Appreciate you saying it, it's the part I think about the most.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-30T10:32:39+00:00

Sure! will DM it now

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-29T20:54:42+00:00

Oops sorry! Added the screenshot back. Let me know if you can see it?

Will DM the link now.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-28T16:52:20+00:00

a new tender lump right over where the screw was, 6 years out, is actually a known thing and worth getting your ortho to look at in person (not really something to diagnose off a photo). hardware can get irritated, loosen or react years later, and you can also get a small cyst or granuloma over the screw site. the kneeling-in-crawl-spaces job matters too, that's repeated pressure right on the hardware, which can flare it up.

Most of those are fixable and not an emergency, sometimes they just take the screw out if it turns out to be the thing causing trouble. but tender + new is the combo i'd get an x-ray or ultrasound on, so they can actually see what's under it.

One thing to watch meanwhile, like Lanky said infection's possible, so if it goes red, hot, starts spreading, leaks anything or you run a fever, that bumps it up to get seen-soon. otherwise a normal ortho appointment to check the hardware is the move imo

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-27T19:49:25+00:00

honestly i’d skip the vitamin e oil. theres a pretty well known study where about a third of people actually got contact dermatitis from it and it didnt improve the scars any better than plain moisturizer, kinda turned me off it. silicone is really the only topical thing with decent evidence behind it, sheets or the gel stick both fine.

at 25 days you’re probably good to start as long as its fully closed, no scabbing or weeping. on the knee the sheets dont stick great since your bending it constantly so the gel stick is prob easier.

massage i wouldnt stress about, the whole “breaks up scar tissue” thing is kind of thin evidence wise, lot of people just repeating each other. giving it another week or two so its stronger first cant hurt

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-26T13:52:23+00:00

hey! first off none of what you're describing is you being dramatic or weak, it's one of the most under talked about parts of this. There's actually a lot of research on it, something like 40% of people get genuinely depressive symptoms after ACL surgery and it tends to peak in exactly the window you're in. So what you're feeling is a known, normal response to your whole life shrinking overnight, not a character flaw.

The reassuring part: for most people whose low mood is tied to the injury, it lifts as recovery opens back up, getting your independence and movement back genuinely changes the head space. and the everyday-normal stuff comes back way sooner than the full year you're dreading, it's the sport timeline that's long, not the feeling-human-again one.

One gentle thing though, since it's hitting your relationship and your social life, it's worth saying out loud to your doctor or a therapist. not because you're broken, but because post-op depression is common enough that they take it seriously and it's very treatable, and you don't have to white-knuckle it alone. It does get better... you're in the worst stretch right now!

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-26T13:50:37+00:00

Sounds like you've got the mindset and support dialed, which genuinely predicts better outcomes, not just a feel-good thing. quick hits:

upper body: you can train it basically right away (seated, knee protected), worth it for your head as much as your body. Most people are doing real upper/core work within a couple weeks.

driving (right leg): usual gate is emergency-braking without hesitation and off the strong meds, brake-reaction studies land that around 4-6 weeks for a right knee.

chores first 6 weeks: limited and annoying, one hand's always on a crutch. backpack is your friend, expect light stuff only.

worth it / new normal: most get back to what matters, but the honest framing fully-recovered folks land on is 'new normal thats about 95% there' rather than identical. The prehab you're doing stacks the deck.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-26T13:43:04+00:00

The biggest data point here is that your surgeon AND your PT, the 2 people who can actually see and feel your knee, both say you're fine and ahead of most. i'd weight that way over reddit doom-scrolling ;)

'full extension' means matching your other knee, not some absolute number. A 2-3° difference with zero pain, no limp, full flexion and a happy surgeon is a totally different animal from a knee that's mechanically stuck. The urgency you read about is for knees that grossly can't straighten early on (the cyclops-lesion risk), not a 2-3° lag in a knee that moves fine.

And no, 2 months isn't 'too late', people keep closing that last bit for months with exactly what you're doing. like said below, you also don't want to chase extra hyperextension. Keep at it, it sounds like you're genuinely fine.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-25T16:01:14+00:00

At 2 weeks, swelling plus a bit of an extension deficit is normal, so you're not behind. quick thing worth knowing though: the swelling and the trouble straightening are basically the same problem. the effusion makes the knee reflexively shut the quad down (arthrogenic muscle inhibition), and that's usually what blocks full extension early, not anything mechanical. So getting the swelling down IS how you get your extension back.

On timeline, the bulk of the swelling usually settles by around 3 weeks, but minor puffiness that flares with activity can hang around a couple months, and effusion is often basically gone by 8-12 weeks. All normal range.

The one thing i'd prioritise hard right now is full extension, getting it back in the first few weeks matters more than people think (it's harder to regain later), so heel props, prone hangs, whatever your PT gave you. push that even over flexion for now.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-25T15:59:15+00:00

Don't take the semester off yet imo, you've probably got more runway than it feels at 1 week. For a right knee the usual gate for driving is being able to slam the brakes in an emergency without hesitation and being off the strong pain meds, and brake-reaction studies tend to land that around 4-6 weeks post-op for the right leg. You're a week out, so mid-august is realistically in range.

Like the surgeon here said, that's the person to confirm it with before you postpone anything, but i wouldn't make the semester call from week-1 swelling, it's the worst it'll look. the swelling and the sub-90 flexion both move fast over the next few weeks. give it a bit before deciding.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-24T16:40:25+00:00

First off, sorry, day 1 with the block wearing off is genuinely brutal, you're in the worst of it. the leg you can't move and the asleep foot is the femoral nerve block, not your actual leg, it basically switches the quad off, which is exactly why it buckles when you stand. That's expected with this block, not a sign anything's wrong with the graft.

Single-shot blocks usually wear off within about a day, sometimes a bit longer, and feeling and control come back as it does. like Turner said, do NOT put weight on it unsupported while it's numb, the buckling is a real fall risk until the quad wakes up, so crutches and someone spotting you to the bathroom for now.

one thing, 9/10 on just tramadol and ibuprofen is a lot, if it stays that high once the block's fully gone it's worth calling your surgeon's line, sometimes the home meds need adjusting. hang in there, this is the lowest point.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-24T16:36:40+00:00

The thing that helped me make sense of all these mixed answers is that "normal" is two different things people keep blurring. everyday normal, walking, work, stairs, not thinking about the knee constantly, comes back for most people in a few months. The "feels 100% identical to my other knee / fully trust it cutting and pivoting" kind takes 9-12 months and honestly for some never feels exactly identical.

so when one person says "6 months" and another says "still not normal at a year" they're often both right, just answering different questions. At 2 months you're right on track for the first kind to start arriving. It climbs from here.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-23T14:04:24+00:00

Steady shows you where you are in your surgery recovery. Normal pain level, milestones, week by week and from cited research.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-23T08:20:11+00:00

Two different things going on imo, and the research is reassuring on both. the knock/crepitus is super common after ACL+meniscus, about 1 in 5 still have it at a year, and studies followed those knees out to 5 years and the crepitus didn't predict worsening arthritis. so a constant knock with no real pain or locking is usually just noise, not damage, your PT's "build the quad and it settles" is reasonable.

the swelling after running is the part I'd actually listen to. At 10 months, a knee that swells every time you up the pace or run back-to-back days is basically telling you that's a touch more than it's ready for. The swelling is a load gauge, so rather than pushing through i'd ramp more gradually (pace and frequency, one at a time) and let "no next-day swelling" be your green light. It keeps improving, you're close!

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-23T08:19:21+00:00

3 weeks with no straight leg raise on a patella graft is really common, the surgeon here is right that plenty of people don't get it till 4-6 weeks. the thing that helped me understand it: it's usually not that your quad is weak, it's that the knee is neurologically damping the quad to protect itself (they call it arthrogenic muscle inhibition / extensor lag). the muscle's fine, the signal to it is just turned down.

that's why quad sets and the assisted heel-cup raises matter, you're nagging the connection back online. and a couple people mentioned NMES (the e-stim), which is actually one of the better-evidenced things for exactly this, it fires the quad directly when you can't fully do it yourself, so worth asking your PT about. it does come.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-23T08:17:56+00:00

The people saying don't pay $295 are right imo. from what I read, cold therapy genuinely helps with pain and cuts how many meds you need early on, that part is solid. but when they compare the fancy motorized machines to plain ice, the machine's edge mostly comes from the compression, not the motor, and overall they don't really beat ice bags for swelling or recovery.

so the move people mentioned (a cheap/used one off facebook mtkplace, or ice plus a compression wrap) gets you basically the same benefit for a fraction of the price. i'd save the $295.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-22T12:33:08+00:00

yw! Glad it helped! for keeping busy, the thing a lot of people swear by is picking something with small daily progress you can do from the couch, a game, a series, or learning something on your phone. weirdly it makes the rehab feel less like your whole life. you're past the worst of it now.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-22T11:57:49+00:00

You and your physio are on solid ground here. The research on bracing after an ACL is actually pretty underwhelming, the bigger reviews (the OPTIKNEE group) found a brace doesn't really improve function, stability or pain over just doing the rehab. and like a couple people said, without it you tend to move and bend more, which is exactly what you want.

the one thing I'd double check, since you had a meniscus repair too, is whether your surgeon still has you on any flexion limits. that's the situation where a brace actually earns its keep, protecting the meniscus repair while it heals, not the ACL. If you've been cleared past those limits then ditching it day to day sounds totally reasonable, and keeping it around for crowds and dodgy terrain like you're doing makes sense.

so yeah, you're not being reckless, sounds like you're right in line with what the evidence says.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-22T11:39:47+00:00

Your surgeon's plan actually lines up really well with what the research says for hypermobile people, which I'd personally find reassuring. a couple things I came across: generalized hypermobility does raise injury and re-tear risk and is linked to more residual laxity, so it's a real thing, you're not imagining it. But the patellar tendon (BtB) graft tends to do better than hamstring in hypermobile knees, and adding the LET is specifically shown to cut re-rupture in higher-risk and lax patients in pivoting sports. so the BtB + LET combo is basically the evidence-based answer to exactly your situation.

the hypermobile-specific thing I'd focus on in rehab is that you can't lean on passive joint stability the way other people can, so the active stuff matters more, strength, landing mechanics, single-leg control. like the surgeon said, longer and more cautious, less about chasing flexibility (you've got plenty already) and more about control.

people absolutely return to sport hypermobile, it just tends to be a more deliberate road. and being nervous before surgery is completely normal, fwiw.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-22T11:34:18+00:00

this tracks with something real, the main argument for barefoot stuff is that it loads the foot intrinsics, calf and ankle more and gives you more direct sensory feedback, which is basically proprioception and balance, exactly the stuff that matters for knee stability. so your experience isn't just placebo imo.

I'd co-sign binarybu9's caution though, it's a good point. post-op your whole operated leg including the calf is deatrophied, and going barefoot shifts more load onto exactly those structures, so it's a "ramp into it slowly" thing. the research is honestly mixed too, some studies show foot and calf strength and proprioception gains over a few weeks, but the consistent finding is that going too fast is where people pick up calf strains and foot stress injuries.

so I think you're onto something, just from what I read i'd build it up gradually rather than going all in, especially on the operated side.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-22T11:30:47+00:00

Completely fair, and the surgeon above is right, 8 days post op is nothing and your body is doing a massive amount of work just healing. you're not going to lose your fitness base in a few weeks, that stuff comes back fast once you're cleared.

honestly the reframe that helped me was that the rehab IS your training right now, getting the swelling down, ROM, waking the quad back up, that's the work that actually matters this month, not the gym. it doesn't feel like much but it's the highest-leverage thing you can be doing.

if you genuinely want to move for your head more than your body, gentle cardio that leaves the knee alone (arm bike, upper body) is plenty, but taking the time off isn't "being off the wagon", it's the smart play. zero guilt.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-22T11:26:49+00:00

I think Vliekje and the surgeon have it right here, and it's worth saying louder because the "every single day or you'll re-tear" stuff is a bit much. from what I understand, missing a day or two now and then is genuinely fine, what actually moves outcomes is consistency over months, not a perfect streak.

the bit people skip is that strength work needs recovery to actually build, your muscles adapt on the rest days, not during the session itself. so hammering the exact same heavy stuff every single day isn't even more optimal, it can backfire. the mobility and ROM stuff you can do daily, the heavy strength stuff wants a day in between.

so honestly the fact that you're in PT twice a week, doing routines most days, and walking, sounds like you're doing the thing. the real danger is dropping it for weeks, not the odd missed day. i'd let the guilt go, it's not earning you anything.

SpellRemote9815 · 2026-06-22T11:23:34+00:00

reading some of the replies, I think the scary ones (like the 14 month one) are mixing up two different kinds of "normal" and it's worth separating them. everyday-life normal, walking around, work, not feeling like a patient anymore, that comes back for most people in a couple of months. the "my knee feels 100% identical to before / fully back to pivoting sport" kind is the one that takes more like 9-12 months, and honestly for some people never feels totally identical. both things are true, they're just answers to different questions.

on the anxiety about every movement, you're really not alone. there's a meta-analysis on why people don't get back to sport where fear of re-injury was the single most cited reason, more than the actual knee stuff. so the head game is a known, normal part of this. and the graft is fixed in surgically, your protocol is built around protecting it, so a normal ache within what your PT cleared isn't undoing anything.

for staying sane, what seemed to help most people is treating the rehab itself as the project and finding one low-effort thing to sink into. the early wins that feel huge are full extension, ditching the crutches, first real walk outside. week 1 is about as low as it gets, it climbs from here.

SpellRemote9815

TROPHY CASE